1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method, which immerse a substrate to be processed, such as a semiconductor wafer or an LCD glass substrate, into a cleaning liquid such as a chemical liquid or a rinse liquid, and thereafter dry the substrate to be processed. More particularly, the present invention relates to a substrate processing apparatus and a substrate processing method, which are capable of uniformly and promptly drying the surface of the substrate to be processed.
2. Description of Related Art
In a general manufacturing process of a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus, there has been widely employed a cleaning method in which a substrate to be processed (hereinafter referred to as “wafer”), such as a semiconductor wafer or an LCD glass, is cleaned in a sequential order by immersing the wafer into a cleaning tank storing a cleaning liquid such as a chemical liquid or a rinse liquid. In addition, there has been known a drying method in which a drying gas formed of a steam of organic solvent having volatility, such as IPA (isopropyl alcohol), is brought into contact with a surface of the cleaned wafer, such that the steam of the drying gas can condense on or adsorb on the surface of the wafer, and thereafter an inert gas such as N2 gas is supplied to the surface of the wafer so as to remove the moisture on the surface of the wafer whereby the surface of the wafer is dried.
A conventional cleaning and drying apparatus for performing a cleaning and drying method of this type has the following structure. Namely, a hood (lid member) capable of being opened and closed is disposed on an upper opening of a cleaning tank storing a cleaning liquid such as a chemical liquid or a rinse liquid, and a drying chamber is formed inside the hood (see, for example, JP10-284459A and JP11-16876A).
In the conventional cleaning and drying apparatus shown in JP10-284459A and JP11-16876A, a wafer is firstly immersed into the cleaning liquid stored in the cleaning tank, and then the wafer is cleaned. Thereafter, the wafer is drawn up from the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank, and is moved into the drying chamber disposed above the cleaning tank. Then, the drying chamber is hermetically closed by a shutter or the like, with the wafer being accommodated in the drying chamber. Following thereto, a drying gas is supplied into the drying chamber so as to be brought into contact with the surface of the wafer, such that the steam of the drying gas can condense on or adsorb on the surface of the wafer. After that, an inert gas is supplied to the surface of the wafer so as to remove the moisture on the surface of the wafer whereby the surface of the wafer is dried.